BAGHDAD — BAGHDAD - Predawn raids by elite Iraqi forces yesterday resulted in the fatal shooting of a government employee and the arrest of two prominent Sunni Arabs, according to witnesses and officials.
The troops were from the central government's counter-terrorism units, said Gov. Raad Rashid al-Tamimi of Diyala province, where the raid took place. They had stormed the governorate building in the city of Baqouba and arrested Sunni provincial council member Hussein al-Zubaidi, who belongs to the Iraqi Islamic Party.
Another raid led to the arrest of a prominent Sunni university dean.
Controversy swirled over who sent the troops on their mission. The unit, special forces referred to by detractors as the dirty squad, reports to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's counter-terrorism office. Spokesmen for al-Maliki, a Shiite Muslim, and the Defense Ministry denied that the prime minister had ordered the raids.
"These special forces work with the Americans. They are not associated with the Ministry of Defense," said ministry spokesman Mohammed Askari. "They have goals, and they didn't inform anyone else."
The special forces, long considered the most effective Iraqi military unit in the country, generally operate with U.S. military advisers and have been targeting both al-Qaida in Iraq and the Shiite Mahdi Army militia.
The U.S. military denied any involvement in the operation.
The special forces transferred to Iraqi operational control in 2007 after working with near independence under their U.S. advisers. Last spring, the group's commander Fadil Barwari, a veteran Kurdish officer, was brought before the parliament's national security committee, where members complained about the group's rough tactics, several lawmakers have told the Los Angeles Times.
The head of Iraq's national media center, Ali Hadi, denied that al-Maliki had ordered the raid and said the prime minister had called an investigation to find out what happened.
Witnesses said that more than 50 soldiers stormed the compound and rousted council members from their beds. The troops roughed up people, and the governor said they shot to death his secretary, Abbas Ali Hamood.
Hamood had asked the soldiers to identify themselves and to behave when the troops opened fire on him, said a building security officer, who identified himself as Capt. Saad.
